The present invention relates to a printer for printing a document, and more specifically, to apparatus and methods for communicating with a server.
Printers, for example, thermal transfer printers, are used for printing various documents with high resolution and full colors (e.g., 8 bits for each of CMYK). The printing quality of the printers has been improved to the extent that documents printed by these printers are used as documents of value, e.g., original tickets, gift certificates, postage stamps, and the like. At the same time, prices for these high-quality printers have been substantially reduced.
In a situation where a user prints out an original valuable document based on printing data retrieved from a remote host (e.g., a content provider's server), the current network/printing systems pose a serious problem: that is, counterfeiting by an authorized user using an unauthenticated printer. In other words, the current systems have risks where an authorized user may intercept image data of the document of value from the server, forge the image, and print a counterfeit document.
In view of these and other issues, it would be highly desirable to have a technique allowing a remote server to authenticate a printer which is used for printing a document of value.